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Vienna 1876.
The place was a building site.
2
00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:15,480
The hub of an empire
and the symphony.
3
00:00:17,800 --> 00:00:23,520
The Emperor Franz Joseph had decided
the city walls should come down
4
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to be replaced by a prestigious
urban boulevard - The Ringstrasse.
5
00:00:31,960 --> 00:00:34,200
Another Ring,
Wagner's massive music drama
6
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with its Ride of the Valkyries,
was being created at the same time.
7
00:00:38,400 --> 00:00:41,280
Two ground-breaking moments
8
00:00:41,280 --> 00:00:44,360
and both Rings took about 30 years
to construct.
9
00:00:47,040 --> 00:00:49,200
The Austrian writer Karl Kraus said,
10
00:00:49,200 --> 00:00:52,440
"Vienna was being demolished
into a great city."
11
00:00:52,440 --> 00:00:56,720
With a classical Parliament
building, Athena presiding
at the front,
12
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a Gothic style town hall,
and a Renaissance-style university.
13
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But constructed before any of these,
in 1868, was the Opera House.
14
00:01:06,720 --> 00:01:10,520
Music remained of course an abiding
interest for the Viennese public
15
00:01:10,520 --> 00:01:14,560
and at the time debate was fierce
about whether new music should be
16
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descriptive or abstract -
Wagner versus Brahms.
17
00:01:19,160 --> 00:01:22,360
The symphony was at the centre
of this controversy.
18
00:01:22,360 --> 00:01:25,960
In this programme we'll see
how it emerged triumphant.
19
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How it became a vehicle
for nationalist sentiment and gained
genuine popular appeal.
20
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And how it became the means
of intense artistic self expression.